The Critical Thinking Process: A Holistic View to Promote Critical Problem-Solving in Health Profession Education

Abstract

Context: Critical thinking (CT) has been recognized as a key learning outcome in health profession education (HPE). A holistic, well-defined process for initiating CT is essential to promote critical problem-solving in HPE students. Various perceptions of CT have emerged from different paradigms and disciplines. Integration of this variability into the CT process could be beneficial for medical educators to develop CT in learners. This study aimed to outline the CT process in view of the multiple conceptualizations of CT. Evidence Acquisition: In this narrative review, SID, Google Scholar, and PubMed databases were searched. After studying 35 selected articles, the CT process was formulated based on the multiple conceptualizations of CT. Results: Multiple perceptions of CT, emerged from disciplines and paradigms, should be incorporated into the CT process to achieve strong CT. In view of this multiplicity, not only the CT skills but also its dispositions are of key importance in the CT process. Furthermore, the essential role of the context in which the CT takes place, one’s own creativity, metacognition over the thinking process, social construction of meaning, caring to others, and seeking problems through challenging the systems should be considered. Conclusions: We outlined the CT process, grounded from multiple conceptualizations of CT, and advocated for the use of it by HPE students to promote critical problem-solving in facing complex challenges during their professional careers.